Edappadi K Palaniswami led AIADMK's 55th-year celebrations as dissident leaders stayed away. The boycott highlighted deepening divisions over electoral defeats and demands for organisational change.
Edappadi K Palaniswami led AIADMK's 55th-year celebrations as dissident leaders stayed away. (Photo: PTI)
Chennai,Oct 17, 2026 22:09 IST
AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami on Saturday marked the party's entry into its 55th year by hoisting its flag and paying floral tributes to party icons M G Ramachandran and J Jayalalithaa, news agency Press Trust of India reported.
The celebrations were, however, boycotted by dissident MLAs and their supporters amid growing differences within the party following its electoral setbacks.
Hundreds of party workers and several senior leaders attended the Foundation Day event at the AIADMK headquarters, Puratchi Thalaivar MGR Maaligai, in Chennai's Royapettah. Leaders including K P Munusamy, C Ponnaiyan, M Thambidurai and B Valarmathi joined Palaniswami in paying tributes to former chief ministers Ramachandran, the party's founder, and Jayalalithaa.
Party leaders and workers who had gathered at the headquarters early in the morning gave Palaniswami a warm welcome. The AIADMK chief distributed sweets after unfurling the party flag.
Disgruntled leaders S P Velumani, C Ve Shanmugam, P Thangamani and Natham Viswanathan, along with their supporters, stayed away from the celebrations led by Palaniswami. The senior leaders were among the rebel legislators who voted in favour of the C Joseph Vijay-led TVK government during the floor test on May 13. They have sought an organisational overhaul following the AIADMK's defeat in the April 2026 Assembly elections.
Speaking at the celebrations, Palaniswami said no one could shake the AIADMK. He said the party would overcome its challenges, rise like a phoenix and return to power in Tamil Nadu.
In Villupuram, Shanmugam urged the party leadership to hold talks to identify the reasons for the election defeat and prepare a strategy to regain power. "My only wish is that the AIADMK should regain strength to form Amma's rule again. I will fully cooperate with such initiatives and I have no personal agenda. It is enough if the AIADMK is united and emerges as a strong political force," Shanmugam told reporters, according to PTI.
"The 'Two Leaves' should rule the state," he said, referring to the AIADMK's election symbol.
Velumani and Shanmugam have continued to demand a meeting to discuss the reasons for the electoral defeat despite facing disciplinary action. Palaniswami removed them from key organisational positions and also stripped their supporters of important party posts.
Seeking to indicate that the party's core workers and many leaders remained with Palaniswami, the AIADMK's IT wing published posts describing him as a "phenomenon" carrying forward the party's legacy in its 55th year.
"This is not a group of losers who get upset after seeing defeat. This is a team of warriors who stand firm and win head-on, no matter how many odds are flung at them! Our party, full of valiant political workers, following the path of the revolutionary leaders MGR and Amma, cannot be shaken by any force!" the IT wing said.
Founded in 1972 by actor and political leader M G Ramachandran, the AIADMK has completed 54 years. The party lost the 2021 Assembly election to the DMK, after which DMK president M K Stalin became Chief Minister. It suffered another defeat in the 2026 Assembly election, lost its status as the principal opposition party to the DMK, and saw TVK founder C Joseph Vijay become Chief Minister.
The AIADMK also witnessed an exodus of leaders and workers to the ruling TVK. In the October 9 bypolls to the Madurantakam and Dharapuram Scheduled Caste-reserved Assembly constituencies, former AIADMK legislators Maragatham Kumaravel and P Sathyabama won after contesting on the TVK's Whistle symbol.
The internal crisis deepened when Velumani sought the return of expelled leaders, including former Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, V K Sasikala and AMMK chief T T V Dhinakaran, to revive the party after its electoral defeats. He said a course correction was needed to restore the AIADMK's strength.
Senior party leader and Palaniswami supporter Agri Krishnamurthy rejected the demand, saying Panneerselvam had contested and won on the rival DMK's Rising Sun symbol.
As the AIADMK entered its 55th year, Palaniswami called on party workers to remain united and determined in confronting new political challenges. He urged them to work together to defeat what he described as "anti-democratic forces" and an "anti-people regime" through democratic means, even as dissident leaders continued to press for organisational changes and the return of expelled leaders.
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